Demand USDA reinstate Animal Welfare Information on its Website and Accessibility to the Public

The Agriculture Department has abruptly removed any animal welfare inspection reports, enforcement records and other information about the treatment of animals from its website. A spokeswoman for USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the information was removed from the site on Friday. This vital information is used by advocacy groups and members of the public to look up information on commercial dog and horse breeders, some of whom have had a history of abuse. The reports included lists of animal welfare violations at those facilities and also at animal testing labs, and whether those violations have been corrected. "What the USDA has done is given cover to people who neglect or harm animals and get cited by USDA inspectors," said John Goodwin, who runs the Stop Puppy Mills Campaign at The Humane Society of the United States. "The public is no longer going to know which commercial dog breeders, horse trainers, which zoos, which research labs have horrible animal welfare track records."